Few Questions!

[Nelly2016]

Me and my friends have five days in Disneyworld. All of them park days and we are planning on no park hopper, but can be swayed to change our minds based on the advice we get! We are planning on doing every park. I have a few questions that I could really use some insight on!

1. If I make a dining reservation in MK but spend the day in HS, do I need a park hopper to get in to the park to go to the restaurant? If so, does this mean that if I spend the day at HS, my dining reservation should be at a restaurant in the same park as well?

2. Illuminations, Wishes, and Fantasmic. I've seen Wishes and loved it - I want to see it more than once when I go back. Any advice on Fantasmic and Illuminations? Are they both firework shows as well? A must for first timers or can we skip it?

3. We are going in late April of 2017. Would you recommend a park hopper for this time of year? I know getting to and from can be time consuming and we do not want to waste any time. We are all adults and will not be carting around strollers and such.

4. We are planning on brown bagging it for lunches in the park and dining out for dinners. Does anybody else do this and if so, what food do you find it best to bring along? We don't want to carry too much and also don't want to sink into food comas. We are interested in eating light snacks/meals that are filling but not too filling and drinking lots of water.

 

[5Adults]

I personally don't buy Park Hoppers, as a lot of time is burned getting between the parks. In my experience it's best to plan out what parks to visit based on attendance trends, EMH and EEH and dining reservations. For example, Epcot is almost always the best choice on a peak attendance day, such as a weekend or holiday, as its sheer size and relative lack of rides allows it to absorb high crowds. I will never visit a park on EMH days, as the 3 or so attractions I will ride at 7 am are offset by higher crowds the rest of the day. I almost always visit the MK on an EEH day, leaving the park after lunch and returning around 4-5 ish.

It's all a matter of preference, but the objective should always be minimizing waiting time, to me park hopping adds to waiting time.

This was very helpful to me, thanks. Both in terms of not requiring park hopper but especially going to Epcot on the peak attendance days because it's so spaced out and has less rides.We're only going to MK and Epcot and we're going the week of President's Day, Feb 18-25. So I'm thinking Epcot on the Sunday, Typhoon Lagoon on the Monday, then MK on Tuesday, rest day and the next two days (Thursday/Friday) at the two Universal parks. Whew! I'm tired thinking about it!!

 

[rt06]

Yeah, were definitely not holding back on snacks and stuff - I know Disney has a ton of yummy treats. The one thing we can't justify is a full lunch meal when were planning on going out to dinner anyway! But yes, we are planning on at least one snack a day as well as our dinner out! Thanks for the tips!

All I'm trying to say is that if you're trying to substitute a Dole Whip or Mickey Bar with some trail mix, it's not happening. Any cold lunch you pack in the morning will be warm and mushy by noon. I mean, are you thinking some granola and Chobani for lunch? You're gonna need three meals. The snacks will come when you want it. The most convenient meal to eat in your room is breakfast. I made some healthy breakfasts with the coffee maker and a blender I brought from home. The QS menu prices include "dessert" which is often no more than a fruit cup or some packaged cookie that used to be $.50 in a bodega. You can actually order just a burger if that's all you need to fill you up. If there's one thing I learned is that every Disney portion is excessive. Even the mugs. How many oz of soda do you need a day? Because anything more than than 16 oz is too darn much. Park hopper, no hopper. DDP, no DDP. I've done it both ways. Less is more.

 

[JillC LI]

What time should we get the reservation for would you say?

I'd try for 7:30ish. We got one for 7:50 which was perfect.

 

[Nelly2016]

All I'm trying to say is that if you're trying to substitute a Dole Whip or Mickey Bar with some trail mix, it's not happening. Any cold lunch you pack in the morning will be warm and mushy by noon. I mean, are you thinking some granola and Chobani for lunch? You're gonna need three meals. The snacks will come when you want it. The most convenient meal to eat in your room is breakfast. I made some healthy breakfasts with the coffee maker and a blender I brought from home. The QS menu prices include "dessert" which is often no more than a fruit cup or some packaged cookie that used to be $.50 in a bodega. You can actually order just a burger if that's all you need to fill you up. If there's one thing I learned is that every Disney portion is excessive. Even the mugs. How many oz of soda do you need a day? Because anything more than than 16 oz is too darn much. Park hopper, no hopper. DDP, no DDP. I've done it both ways. Less is more.

Thanks for the tips. We did hear that the portions at Disney were big and were thinking that maybe we could just split a burger or something for lunch. Breakfast will definitely be done in the room, yes. I think right now we are leaning towards bringing some easy snacks (like trail mix and maybe fruit) and if we are still hungry after that, we have the option of grabbing a meal from a QS restaurant.

 

[Nelly2016]

I'd try for 7:30ish. We got one for 7:50 which was perfect.

Perfect, thanks for the tip!